


what you do to me

by DestinyFreeReally



Category: The Newsroom (US TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-17
Updated: 2017-08-17
Packaged: 2018-12-16 10:30:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11826867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DestinyFreeReally/pseuds/DestinyFreeReally
Summary: Early in Mac's command of the newsroom, Will's still only half-sure about 2.0 with respect to losing his audience.





	what you do to me

    On edge after a meeting with Reese, all Will had to do was storm through the newsroom to get Mac’s attention; it almost made him smile when he didn’t even have to call for her, she just came.       
  
    “Did you have a nice walk?” Mac asked, half-genuine; she knew he was sneaking out, probably to meet Reese Lansing, conspiring on ways to kill her that would leave ACN blameless.   
  
    “Beautiful, it’s a nice day out, we should all have a scheduled stroll-time.” Agitated, he leaned hard against the back of his chair, and Will looked up at her, silently for a few seconds.   
  
     “You know what you do to me?” He spoke again, exasperated.    
  
     “Infuriate you?” Mac wasn’t sure she meant that entirely as a joke, but she wasn’t sure what answer she was supposed to give to a question like that.   
  
    “Complicate me; you complicate me. I am a very simple person, with simple needs and a simple demeanor and you come in here, stomping around with your chin high  _ demanding  _ things of me, and you complicate me.” Will lit a cigarette, if only as an excuse to stop himself from talking. He was furious with her, furious for her being there in the first place, and furious that the show they did  _ felt  _ good, even if it shortchanged the ratings.    
  
    “I  _ complicate  _ you?” Mac blinked, and chewed her lip. “If that’s the  _ worst  _ thing I’ve ever done to you-”   
  
    “It isn’t,” He growled, and took a drag from his cigarette. “But it’s the thing you do the most; I had a  _ good  _ show, with  _ good  _ ratings, and  _ good  _ likeability, I was  _ damned _ likeable, and sometimes that means I was simple.”    
  
     Eight weeks into News Night 2.0, Will felt like his life was a constant out-of-body experience. Someone else was surely enjoying ruining their own life, because it couldn’t be him. The ratings had dipped, and she was still pushing him harder. Publicly, in the newsroom, and in the office, and in front of the staff, he could support her. He could brave the elements for her, weather the storm of temperate indifference from the audience. Privately, Will weighed the cost of being liked by many against being respected by one, and that felt decidedly complicated.   
  
    “You mean that sometimes you  _ pretended _ to be simple,” Mac corrected, and finally felt brave enough to sit across from his desk. Entirely too close to him, and his cigarette smoke, but she looked him in the eye and dared him to call her a liar. “You  _ pretended  _ to be simple because sometimes, to very certain people, that made you likeable. Sounds all very complicated to me, Will.” She picked up her papers again, once she was satisfied the end of her side of the conversation was about done. “Rundown in twenty minutes,” She sighed, “If you wanted reassurance about ratings, you should’ve went to Reese; you want reassurance about the show? About its anchor?” She leaned on the door, ready to bolt, but not yet. “The show’s getting there, and so is the anchor.”    
  
    With a second of a soft smile, Mackenzie McHale simplified the whole matter. 


End file.
